Larval development of Polychaeta from the northern California coast. Fourteen additional species together with seasonality of planktic larvae over a 5-year period

Abstract

Larvae of ~100 species of benthic invertebrates were obtained from the vicinity of Tomales Bay and Dillon Beach, California, over a 6-year period (1971–1977). This study reports on larvae of 14 species in eight families of polychaetes:Micronereis nanaimoensis,Nereis vexillosa,Sthenelais fusca,Nephtys caecoides,Nephtys californiensis,Boccardia berkeleyorum,Polydora pygidialis,Polydora spongicola,Dipolydora cardalia,Mediomastus californiensis,Ampharete labrops,Phragmatopoma californica,Sabellaria cementariumandPectinaria californiensis. Some species were cultured from embryos obtained from laboratory fertilizations or field-collected egg masses or capsules. Larvae of other species were obtained from meroplankton and some of these were cultured through metamorphosis. A summary table is presented documenting seasonal occurrence of 60 polychaete taxa in the meroplankton.